The Real Purpose of Your Life

Actress Amy Poehler recently shared a video called The Real Purpose of Your Life. Now, you gotta watch that one, right?

I did, and to my delight, this short little ditty–narrated by philosopher Alan Watts and produced by Book of Mormon and South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone–has a fun but sneakily profound message about the real meaning of happiness.

Watts says that many of us, without even realizing it, buy into this idea:

“Something great is coming! Success is coming!” Just work a little harder and push yourself a little more. You’ll be happy tomorrow when that big thing arrives.

I’ll admit it. I’ve sort of bought into that. There have been times when I believed I needed to keep my eye on the prize and just keep going until tomorrow. I felt I needed to sacrifice my today for a future gain. In limited doses, that’s not totally a bad thing. BUT, and this is the big part for me:

Can you focus on your goals for the future without missing today’s joy?

Can you chase what’s next and be present to this moment?

I say, yes.

I believe it’s possible to be happy today and pursue tomorrow’s desires. What do you think? I’d love to know.

Thanks for sharing, Amy Poehler.

About Darlene Mininni

Dr. Darlene Mininni is the author of “The Emotional Toolkit” and creator of UCLA’s undergraduate happiness class LifeSkills. Her work has been featured on CNN, PBS, NPR, WebMD, Marie Claire, SELF and Prevention. Darlene maintains a private mentoring practice dedicated to showing women how to create happy lives by developing their inner wisdom.
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